Okay, this is driving me crazy... I'm new to Adobe Premiere and when I export a video, the end result has a thick black border around it (seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox8CX5tsf8Q) - I'm importing the video into adobe premiere via firewire off of an HD tape from a Sony HD camcorder and when setting up the project in premiere I use the following settings with Adobe Premiere CS4...

General

Editing mode: DV NTSC

Timebase: 29.97fps

Video Settings

Frame size: 720h 480v (1.2121)

Frame rate: 29.97 frames/second

Pixel Aspect Ratio: D1/DV NTSC Widescreen 16:9 (1.2121)

Fields: Lower Field First

Audio Settings

Sample rate: 32000 samples/second

Default Sequence

Total video tracks: 3

Master track type: Stereo

Mono tracks: 0

Stereo tracks: 3

5.1 tracks: 0

Submix mono tracks: 0

Submix stereo tracks: 0

Submix 5.1 tracks: 0

I've also tried it using...

General

Editing mode: DV PAL

Timebase: 25.00fps

Video Settings

Frame size: 720h 576v (1.4587)

Frame rate: 25.00 frames/second

Pixel Aspect Ratio: D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9 (1.4587)

Fields: Lower Field First

Audio Settings

Sample rate: 32000 samples/second

Default Sequence

Total video tracks: 3

Master track type: Stereo

Mono tracks: 0

Stereo tracks: 3

5.1 tracks: 0

Submix mono tracks: 0

Submix stereo tracks: 0

Submix 5.1 tracks: 0

And I've tried it in standard modes as well...

When I work with the video in premiere these borders do not exist, and the only time it's ever shown is after the export is finished and I open the video in a player to view it...

I hope someone can help me get rid of this, I've tried scaling the size of the video in the project using the motion setting, and others but have had no luck... it must be a settings that I'm missing? I would really love to start using adobe premiere as my default editor (I use pinnacle studio primarily) but unless I can get around this, I have to say it won't happen... I'm still under my trial period and obviously can't purchase unless I can fix this issue.

Hey, thanks for the response... I know exactly what you mean by using an HDV preset and I'm going to try it as soon as I get home to my PC with premiere on it and then ill let you know if it worked or not... you would be my hero if it did, I spent 3 hours on google last night trying to figure it out with no luck.

One question... why are the settings i use 4:3 when it says 16:9 in the settings and theyre named widescreen (do you know)?

There is a function on many DV cameras that enable a widescreen within the DV frame. They do this by changing the pixel shape and this creates a widescreen with in the SD . Often this has a letterbox effect ( but not always)

If you shot HD you need to use a HDV Preset to match your source material.

Tried and failed Ive tested all HDV sequence presets and after media encoder is finished with them, the final result has the black border I've confirmed that my footage is full 16:9 when I play it in windows media player and VLC before I import it into the sequence... I simply import, drag the video to video 1 in the timeline, and then select file/export at which time adobe media encoder opens up and there, I hit "start queue"... it takes a minute or 2 to create the final result on my desktop and when I open and play the new file in windows media player or VLC, it has the black border... this is terribly frustrating, I haven't changed any settings in premiere so I cant understand why this is happening

It means your sequence is a different aspect ratio that the format you are exporting to.

Are you matching your source footage properly with a sequence preset? They need to match.

Then when you export; you can see right away if there is an aspect ratio difference by clicking on the Output tab in media encoder. It shows you want the output will look like. If you see black borders there you know you have set a different aspect ration for export than your sequence.

Edit: In your YOUTUBE example, it looks like the aspect ratio is correct but the frame size is wrong. This is likely because you choose the wrong sequence preset for your source footage.

The most common HDV format on Sony cameras is 1080i. Use that as the sequence preset. Edit away and when finished, export in the format suitable for your delivery. For instance H.264-BR for blu-ray disk or MPEG2-DVD for DVD.